Exide Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Loan Is Extended

A federal judge Friday approved a revised bankruptcy loan for
Exide Technologies Inc.,
but granted junior creditors the right to float their own Chapter 11 emergence plan for the distressed battery maker.

The ruling from Judge
Kevin Carey
opens up the Georgia company’s contentious Chapter 11 case, which has been marked by escalating problems with environmental regulators. Exide gets extended bankruptcy financing from a syndicate led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., but unsecured creditors will be free to compete with the company over how to get Exide out of Chapter 11.

“We have reached a milepost juncture,” Judge Carey said at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Exide has been protected from the threat of rival reorganization proposals since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2013. Unsecured creditors, however, don’t like the course the company is steering. Friday’s ruling gives them a chance to explore other options for Exide, a global company with a substantial business.